updated 06:52 am EDT, Thu March 14, 2013

LG takes a stab at Samsung ahead of Galaxy S4 launch

LG has ambushed the high profile Samsung Galaxy S4 launch in Times Square with a cheeky billboard that parodies the Samsung teaser. The LG billboard, which is placed directly above the Samsung billboard, proclaims that the 'LG Optimus G is here 4 you now.' It recalls similar parodies that Samsung has visited upon Apple with its own advertising campaigns, although in this instance, Samsung finds itself on the receiving end.

The Optimus G is the best LG smartphone that Samsung's Korean rival has released in the US. It was the first smartphone to receive the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, while it centers on a 4.7-inch 720p LCD display. However, since its launch in Q4 last year, it has been quickly overrun in the past month with several handsets debuting the new Snapdragon 600 CPU as well combining it with either 4.7-inch or 5-inch 1080p displays.

Although using a very similar architecture to the ARM Cortex-A15 quad-core processor in the faster half of the Eyxnos Octa SoC, the Snapdragon S4 processor, which is clocked at 1.5GHz in the Optimus G, is expected to be out-clocked by the Samsung processor said to be clocked at 1.8GHz. The power saving quad-core Cortex A7 half of the Exynos Octa is, conversely, clocked at 1.2GHz and uses a less sophisticated architecture.

The Galaxy S4 is also expected to bring a raft of features including a 5-inch 1080p display, 'eye scrolling' and and 'floating touch' tech - all of which should comfortably trump the Optimus G for features. The Optimus G Pro, however, should comfortably square the ledger when it is eventually released stateside.